Idaho’s suicide rate has seen a slight drop, but the state continues to have to have one of the highest rates in the nation.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the numbers on causes of death for 2016, the latest year available. Idaho saw 351 people killed themselves that year, for a rate of 20.9 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants.
While the total was down by 8 from the previous year, Idaho still had the eighth-highest rate in the country. Alaska had the highest suicide rate at 26 per 100,000, followed by Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Nevada, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Idaho was 5th-highest in 2015.
Nationally, 45,000 people ended their own lives in 2016, or 13.9 per 100,000 people.
About 60 percent of Idaho suicides in both years were done with a firearm, compared to about 50 percent nationally.
Alaska plus a bloc of non-coastal western states including Idaho have led the nation in suicide rates for years, with theories as to why including rural poverty and isolation, high rates of gun ownership, and a culture of individualism and self-reliance that discourages people from seeking help.
The Idaho Suicide Prevention Hotline is 208-398-HELP, or 208-398-4357. More information is available at idahosuicideprevention.org. (Couer d’Alene Press)
